Throughput at the leading North American vehicle handling ports was down across the board last year because of the disruption caused by the coronavirus. The second quarter production and sales closures across the region meant vehicles were not moving as quickly and ports had to be flexible with storage and services. However, a fast rebound in sales in the second half of the year also required flexibility and resourcefulness across the sector.

Disruption has continued into 2021 because of production shortfalls caused by the global semiconductor supply bottleneck but vehicle flows are beginning to return to normal and the overflow spaces that a number of ports secured for their customers at short notice have largely been cleared.